Networks are well known in the computer field. By definition, a network is a group of computers and associated devices that are connected by communications facilities or links. An internetwork, in turn, is the joining of multiple computer networks, both similar and dissimilar, by means of gateways or routers that facilitate data transfer and conversion from various networks. A well-known abbreviation for the term internetwork is “internet.” As currently understood, the capitalized term “Internet” refers to the collection of networks and routers that use the Internet Protocol (“IP”), to communicate with one another. The Internet has recently seen explosive growth by virtue of its ability to link computers located throughout the world. As will be appreciated from the following description, the present invention could find use in many interactive environments; however, for purposes of discussion, the Internet is used as an exemplary interactive environment for implementing the present invention.
The Internet has quickly become a popular method of disseminating information due, in large part, to its ability to deliver information quickly and reliably. To retrieve online media resources or other data over the Internet, a user typically uses communications or network browsing software. A common way of retrieving online media resources is through a uniform resource locator (“URL”) address that provides the location of specific content on a server connected to the Internet.
A drawback of using just a URL to retrieve online media resources (e.g., images, movies, audio files, etc.) has been the stateless nature of many online browsing tools and environments. This stateless nature results in media resources being separated from one another. This separation leaves conceptually related media resources (e.g., reduced-size images related to full-size images, song snippets related to full songs, etc.) being linked solely by passive links using conventional hypertext markup language (“HTML”) instructions.
Computer users often do not recognize the effect of the separation between conceptually related online media resources. Computer users often confuse how selectable images (e.g., icons and the like) behave when manipulated by an operating system with how online media resources behave when manipulated online, such as by an Internet browser. When an operating system is instructed to copy a summary of a media source, such as an icon or thumbnail, usually the full media resource is copied. Online environments, such as the World Wide Web (“Web”) operate differently. Online environments often display summaries of media resources (such as reduced-size images commonly referred to as “thumbnails”) to improve download performance for online interactions. A request to copy a summary of a media resource, such as a thumbnail image from a Web browser to a clipboard only copies the thumbnail image, not the related media resource file. Such copying occurs even if a standard HTML link is available that associates the summary of the media resource to the full media resource.
This difference in behavior between the functions performed by operating systems and the actions that occur in online environments can confuse users. For example, when online users copy only a thumbnail of an image because of their familiarity with operating system performance, such users may mistakenly believe that the full image has been copied. As a result, online users are often disappointed when the quality of the thumbnail does not match that of a full image. This result is particularly undesirable when the user desires to embed the copied thumbnail image in a document. Rather than a full image being embedded, only the thumbnail image is embedded. Similar problems result when only a portion of a song is copied instead of an audio file of the full song.
Accordingly, there is a need for way to modify online media operations such that the copying of a summary of a media resource conforms to the way an operating system functions. The needed methodology must be able to operate with existing operating systems and online browsing tools.